Source · SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman)

Scottish Water

SPSO (Scottish Public Services Ombudsman) Not Upheld Reference 201304884 Sector Water Category sewer flooding - internal Decided 01 September 2014

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Full decision

Summary

Mr C complained that Scottish Water failed to act promptly and carry out suitable inspections and repairs to the public sewer following flooding at a family property.

We found that Scottish Water had responded within a day of logging the report of the flooding, and carried out an initial CCTV inspection. They did not find a fault, so they had the area network checked to ensure that sewer levels allowed Mr C's supply to drain effectively. When this was confirmed to be acceptable, they carried out a more extensive CCTV inspection but still found nothing. Scottish Water concluded that the flood was caused by an overload of the sewer, possibly due to very localised and sudden heavy rain. As this was not something they could predict, they said that they could not be held responsible. Having reviewed Scottish Water's actions and considered the terms of their policies and responsibilities, we were satisfied that they acted appropriately and we did not uphold Mr C's complaints.

Related reading

View Decision Report 201304884 as a PDF (11.05 KB) Updated: March 13, 2018

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